Quebec’s leading pension fund has hired a well-known deal-maker from Bank of Nova Scotia to join its executive ranks.
On Thursday, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec announced the hire of Charles Émond as an executive vice-president in charge of its investment strategy in Quebec, as well as with helping co-ordinate its global footprint.
Mr. Émond joins the pension fund, which has $308-billion in assets, from Scotiabank, where he was named global head of investment banking and head of Canadian corporate banking in November. He had worked for the bank for nearly 20 years in a variety of increasingly senior roles that saw him expand the investment bank in Latin America as well as oversee the bank’s economics and strategic transactions teams.
Mr. Émond has a high profile in Quebec. At Scotiabank he had previously been head of investment banking in the province, and in 2018 he led the bank’s acquisition of money manager Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd. for $950-million. After the deal closed, he served as chair of the firm’s board of directors within Scotiabank.
The Caisse has also hired Martin Coiteux as its chief economist. Mr. Coiteux had previously been the Bank of Canada’s representative in Quebec and was most recently the Quebec government’s Treasury Board president.
Scotiabank has yet to name a new head of investment banking. “In light of Charles’s departure, we are reviewing the structure and will confirm the plans for his replacement shortly,” the bank wrote in an internal note to employees.
Mr. Émond’s departure follows significant shuffles within Scotiabank’s global banking and markets division in recent years. In 2017, the former heads of investment banking and mergers and acquisitions both left the dealer, and last November, the bank announced the retirement of group head Dieter Jentsch, naming Jake Lawrence and James Neate as co-heads in his place.
Stay up to date on all our Streetwise stories. We have a Streetwise newsletter, covering mergers and acquisitions, plus financial services news. It is sent Tuesday to Saturday morning. Sign up today.
Tim Kiladze